THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FRAMING THEORY IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS, ANALYTICAL MODEL, AND RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS

Framing theory has become one of the most productive approaches for explaining how international journalism constructs meaning around complex global events such as wars, humanitarian crises, migration, and geopolitical competition. This article synthesizes the conceptual foundations of framing, clarifies its analytical value via agenda-setting and priming. The paper argues that frames operate simultaneously at multiple levels—textual, visual, source-related, and institutional—and that international news environments amplify framing effects due to cross-cultural asymmetries, strategic communication, and unequal access to information. Methodologically, the article outlines a replicable framework for qualitative–quantitative content analysis (codebook-driven framing analysis), including unit selection, frame identification rules, source mapping, and reliability procedures. The discussion highlights how framing shapes audience interpretations of responsibility, legitimacy, moral evaluation, and policy preferences in transnational contexts. The article concludes by presenting implications for researchers and practitioners, emphasizing transparency, methodological rigor, and reflexivity in conflict reporting and international news production.